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HONG KONG: A Hong Kong teenager was found guilty on Friday (December 11) of insulting China’s national flag and an illegal gathering as Beijing accelerates its crackdown on dissent and the city’s pro-democracy movement.
Pro-Beijing authorities have increasingly targeted the most prominent activists in the financial center, including young leaders like Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, who were jailed last week.
Tony Chung, a 19-year-old who led a now-dissolved pro-democracy group, was convicted of throwing the Chinese flag to the ground during skirmishes in front of the Hong Kong legislature in May 2019.
“The defendant’s actions were out of the question as he openly desecrated the national flag. The defendant stepped back and jumped to throw the flag, which made it possible for more people to see what he did,” Judge Peony Wong said.
He was arrested by plainclothes police officers in front of the US consulate in late October and has been in pretrial detention ever since.
It has been speculated that the police moved on Chung because he was hoping to apply for asylum at the US consulate in Hong Kong.
He did not plead guilty to the insult to the flag or illegal assembly, which last a maximum of three and five years respectively.
He will be sentenced on December 29.
“Hong Kongers hold on,” Chung shouted at his supporters in court.
Chung is also the first public political figure to be prosecuted under the radical new national security law imposed in June by Beijing in Hong Kong to quell anti-government protests.
He faces a charge of secession under the new law, which could lead to life in prison, as well as separate charges of money laundering and conspiracy to post seditious content.
After Friday’s verdict, the former leader of the Student Localism group will be jailed while awaiting trial on the most severe national security charge.
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“PERFORMATIVE”
The alleged flag crime took place during brawls between rival supporters as pro-democracy lawmakers inside tried to prevent passage of a now-abandoned extradition bill.
In footage shared at his trial, Chung is seen holding a Chinese flag snatched from a Beijing supporter, which he then tosses over his shoulder.
Prosecutors had charged him with an intentional insult, calling his squat, jump and flag throw “performative.”
Chung denied the charge, arguing that he did not realize it was a Chinese flag.
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Judge Wong said she did not agree that he did not know that the red cloth was the Chinese flag, as it was clearly seen to be waved by the pro-Beijing camp during the fighting.
Criminal cases for insulting the Chinese flag were rarely seen in the former British colony, but as tensions mounted on the Beijing government, so did those incidents.
In April, an air conditioning trainee was jailed for 20 days for trampling on the flag and throwing it away in an anti-government protest.
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And in July, a man received a five-week sentence for burning the flag last year.
Chung and three other Student Localism members were first arrested in July on suspicion of inciting secession on social media.
The conditions of his release on bail from that arrest prevented him from leaving Hong Kong.
Chung’s next court hearing on the national security charge is January 7.
